Consumers Still Consume More Sparkling Wine Than Champagne

The consumption frequency of sparkling wine continues to be ahead of champagne, although the gap is narrowing, with the consumption frequency of sparkling wine down marginally year-on-year.

There are 9% of adults consuming sparkling wine at least once a month and 6% of adults consuming champagne with this frequency. Recent research carried out on behalf of Retail Intelligence by Empathy Research, amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,071 adults aged 18+, sought to understand the dynamics at play in both of these categories and to what extent there may be some cannibalisation by consumers across both categories.

There are almost 1 in 5 (19%) sparkling wine drinkers who have reduced their number of sparkling wine consumption occasions over the past year (up from 15% last year), with 1 in 10 (10%) claiming to have increased their consumption occasions over the same period (marginally down from last year 12%).

For champagne, we have recorded no change in the proportion of champagne drinkers who claim they have reduced the number of occasions when which champagne is being consumed (16%), with 1 in 10 (10%) claiming that they have increased their champagne consumption frequency.

Refreshing

Key reasons for any increase in the amount of sparkling wine being consumed is down to several key areas. The drink is deemed to be refreshing (37%) with almost 3 in 10 (29%) claiming they are drinking more sparkling wine because there are more options available nowadays.

The reduction in sparkling wine consumption is most likely to be a result of consumers claiming that they have lost their taste for sparkling wine (39% from 41% last year), with 15% claiming it contains too much sugar, in line with figures from last year (18%).

Amongst those who have decreased consumption of champagne in the past year, the main reason cited for this drop-off was that champagne was too expensive (30%), although there has been a drop in the proportion claiming that the cost of champagne was behind their reduced consumption (37% in 2018).

For further information and more in-depth analysis on consumer behaviour within the champagne and sparkling wine category, please contact Robbie Clarke at Empathy Research